Apparatus for treating storm water

Abstract

A separation tank having an inlet and an outlet and forming a low flow path and a high flow path, both conveying water from the inlet to the outlet. At normal, low flows, the water enters the inlet and passes through the low flow path having treatment chambers to remove, respectively, heavy materials and floatable materials. At high flows such as with heavy storm runoff, water exceeding a predetermined flow rate is conveyed from the low flow path into the high flow path where there are baffles to treat the water to remove both heavy materials and floatable materials. In optional embodiments, there is a filter / recharge chamber that may contain a filter and / or a groundwater conveyance system such that filtered or unfiltered water can be discharged from the low flow path through a groundwater conveyance system to groundwater, to the normal outlet, or both.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates generally to a device for treatment of storm water, and, more particularly, to an apparatus that provides treatment to the water both during normal flows and also during the high flows occasioned by a heavy downpour.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]In the treatment of storm water, it is necessary to remove various undesirable elements and components, such as bacteria, oil, metals, nutrients, trash and a number of other solids. Many of the pollutants bond to the finer sediment and which is the reason many regulatory agencies now focus on total suspended solids (TSS) as a criteria for design / approval of stormwater quality measures.[0003]To that end, the Clean Water Act requires some stormwater quality treatment for all new developments over 0.5 acres in size. Many types of equipment and processes have been suggested for dealing with this problem.[0004]One of the difficulties in the removal of such materials from stormwater is the need...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a stormwater treatment tank that includes a container with a bottom, side walls, and a cover. The tank has a separation chamber with a low flow path and a high flow path for treating water. The tank also has partitions that separate the chambers and allow for the separation of low or normal flows and high flows. The tank can handle high flows caused by large storms and removes floating materials, such as oil, from the water. The treated water can then be discharged out of the tank. The invention provides a more efficient and effective way to treat stormwater and reduce pollutants in water."

Problems solved by technology

One of the difficulties in the removal of such materials from stormwater is the need to take into account different flows of that water.

In such treatment facilities, however, the high flow that bypasses the low flow treatment chambers is not normally treated to remove both floating and non-floating materials.

Accordingly, while the Monteith system does consider conveyance for the high flow stream of water from a heavy runoff, that bypass water simply passes though the apparatus without any treatment and thus undesirable floatable and non-floatable materials in the high flow stream can be conveyed downstream without being removed.

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